“As soon as I choose to be anywhere, I wanna be anywhere else. It’s easy for me to love anyone, I love anyone but myself. Just don’t make me love myself.” -Love Myself song by Cleo Handler, Chloe Sarbib, and crew of Young Like Us.

Young Like Us is an 8 episode webseries created by Chloe Sarbib & Cleo Handler (who also stars as one of the three main characters, Mia.)

Mia (Cleo Handler), Charlie (Julie Shain), & Ava (Sarah Rosen) are three former roommates and close friends who form a faux band called Larry’s Girls to keep from drifting apart in the midst of their busy & ever changing lives.

I had a lot of fun binge watching Young Like Us. Having recently moved back to Anchorage, Alaska from Queens, New York City, this series had a lot of fun references and relatable moments for me.

Living in the big city–-that is New York City-–isn’t easy for many, especially if you’re young and looking to start building a life. So, keeping yourself surrounded by close and supportive friends makes that transition a lot easier and meaningful, especially in a huge city that feels easily isolating.

Mia, Charlie, & Ava are all in a transitional phase of their lives. They’re in their early 20s, out of college, and adjusting to the quote on quote ‘real world,’ that is the 9-5 workforce life.

Each episode is ripe with issues that any young person deals with; discussions ranging from issues like pregnancy, to dating someone of the same sex, to arguing about who is and who isn’t taking their side of the friendship seriously; which happens in one of the episodes where Charlie feels like she’s taking the idea of starting a band a lot more seriously than her two best friends.

Brad Dourif (Oscar nominated, veteran actor, who portrays one of my favorite characters, Chucky the killer doll from the Chucky/Child’s Play series) makes two guest appearance as Mia, Charlie, & Ava’s former landlord, Larry. One appearance is in the pilot and the second in episode 8. Right off the bat, Cleo Handler and Chloe Sarbib reference Chucky by having Larry tell the girls that he’s on his way to get his Seed of Chucky poster signed by ‘Jennifer–Fucking–Tilly.’ A perfect reference that pays tribute to Brad Dourif’s work as an actor and Chucky, an iconic character we all know and love. Larry is quirky, mysterious, lovingly awkward, & random. Apparently, he is responsible for creating the thin paper that separates cheese in deli’s. Fascinating!

The soundtrack to this webseries is breath taking with hints of folk, rock & roll, even loungy sounding elements to it. These three gal pals spend much of their time in this webseries coming up with much of the lyrics in a lighthearted, entertaining & fun way while they hang out in Ava’s apartment; not taking themselves too seriously….that is until they are faced with a dilemma in the last episode where, Mia’s boyfriend, Trent (portrayed by Devale Ellis) has lined up a gig for their faux band, Larry’s Girls that they of course aren’t in the least bit prepared for. In the end, they embrace this unpreparedness with having fun & letting loose on stage in front of co-workers, friends, & loved ones, proving that just letting go and embracing the moment can be empowering.

These three close gal pals show us the importance of making and carving out the time to spend with your friends; their interactions prove to us that some of the best moments spent in life are in the company of those we form meaningful bonds and connections with in the long term; especially in our youth.

Life happens. In spite of our hardships, if we have our closest friends there to get through it with, then this just amplifies us to be the best versions of ourselves.

You can download the entire soundtrack & watch all eight episodes through the Young Like Us website, also posted there on their Youtube channel that you can find through their website: